Street Crimes Unit cracks down hard on crime

JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) - After months of being disbanded from the Jonesboro Police Department, the Street Crimes Unit has successfully made a comeback in 2017.

According to Police Chief Rick Elliott, what was formally known as the Prowl Unit was dissolved after the department became short-staffed.

"Several months had passed that we were without the unit due to manpower shortage over a couple of years," said Elliott. "Now we are back to good numbers, most of the unit is made up of new officers and they have been very effective."

Elliott decided to re-establish and rename the unit in January with the same primary focus: working in areas of criminal activity.

"We do this with crime mapping where we take a map on a weekly basis and assign certain officers to that area," said Elliott.

Since January, with only six officers and a supervisor, the unit has been very successful according to the stats listed:

97 Traffic Citations

151 Misdemeanor Arrests

211 Felony Arrests

612 Warrants issued

35 written warnings

The unit has removed $68,543 worth of drugs from the streets and seized $55,322 worth of stolen property.

"The end result is that they have been very productive for the citizens of Jonesboro," said Elliott. "It has had its desired effect and I think they will keep on and get those numbers up there as time goes on."

Elliott also credits the success of the unit to the close-knit relationships the officers have with each other.